[WASHINGTON] A Michigan-based economic consulting group said on Thursday that automakers will still face a US$2,000 to US$12,000 tariff impact per vehicle despite the White House moving to soften trade levies on imported auto parts.
Anderson Economic Group said US assembled vehicles like Honda’s Civic and Odyssey, the Chevy Malibu, Toyota Camry Hybrid, and Ford Explorer faced an impact of US$2,000 to US$3,000.
But that could rise to as much as US$10,000 to US$12,000 for imported vehicles, including full-size luxury SUVs, some EVs and other vehicles assembled in Europe and Asia, such as the Mercedes G-Wagon, Land Rover and Range Rover models, some BMW models, and the Ford Mach-E.
The Ford Explorer assembled in Chicago previously faced a tariff impact of about US$4,300, which will drop to about US$2,400, the group estimated, while some Jeep, Ram and Chrysler models from Stellantis could face a US$4,000 to US$8,000 hit.
GM said on Thursday that it expected a hit from tariffs of up to US$5 billion, including US$2 billion on vehicles it imports from South Korea.
The automakers did not comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Earlier this week, Trump agreed to give carmakers two years to boost the percentage of domestic components in vehicles assembled in the United States.
It will allow them to offset tariffs for imported auto parts equal to 3.75 per cent of the total value of the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of vehicles they build in the US through April 2026, and 2.5 per cent of US production through April 2027.
Auto industry leaders lobbied the administration furiously during the weeks since Trump first unveiled his 25 per cent tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts. The levies, aimed at forcing automakers to reshore manufacturing domestically, had threatened to upend a North American automotive production network integrated across the US, Canada and Mexico.
The White House said the change will not affect the 25 per cent tariffs imposed last month on the 8 million vehicles the United States imports annually. REUTERS
